Institute of Historic Building Conservation No 145 July 2016 Lessons from medieval settlements Shophouses in Hong Kong and Singapore Chinese renaissance architecture Richard Norman Shaw’s hidden legacy
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C O N T E X T 1 4 5 : J U LY 2 0 1 6 1 www.ihbc.org.uk Registered as a charity in England andWales number 1061593 and in Scotland number SC041945. Company Limited by Guarantee. Registered in England number 3333780. Registered Office: 3 Stafford Road,TunbridgeWells, Kent TN2 4QZ. Officers President David McDonald, president@ihbc.org.uk Chair James Caird, chair@ihbc.org.uk Vice Chair Kathryn Davies, vchair@ihbc.org.uk Secretary Jo Evans, ihbcsecretary@ihbc.org.uk Treasurer Richard Morrice, treasurer@ihbc.org.uk National Office Director Seán O’Reilly, director@ihbc.org.uk Projects Officer Fiona Newton, projects@ihbc.org.uk Consultant Consultations Coordinator James Caird, consultations@ihbc.org.uk Membership Services Officer Carmen Moran, membershipservices@ihbc.org.uk LETS Officer Kate Kendall, lets@ihbc.org.uk BES Officer Carla Pianese, support@ihbc.org.uk Administration Officer Lydia Porter, admin@ihbc.org.uk Committee Chairs Policy Roy Lewis, policy@ihbc.org.uk Membership & Ethics David Kincaid, membership@ihbc.org.uk Finance & Resources Richard Morrice, resources@ihbc.org.uk Education Bridget Turnbull, education@ihbc.org.uk Communications & Outreach Dave Chetwyn, communications@ihbc.org.uk Branch Officers North vacant NorthWest Crispin Edwards, 0161 474 2620 Yorkshire Matthew Bentley, 0113 247 8145 West MidlandsVacant East Midlands Roy Lewis, 01623 756623 South Julia Foster, 01296 585888 SouthWest JamesWebb, 01202 732849 East Anglia David Andrews, 07760 208231 South East Sanne Roberts, 01273 292261 London Sheila Stones, 01223 582716 Scotland Jane Jackson, 0775 527314 Wales John Edwards, 07796 440934 Northern Ireland Jill Kerry, 028 9048 7395 Republic of Ireland Cormac O’Sullivan, 00353 5677 62907 2 Briefing 5 Out of Context 5 Letter 6 Periodically 8 The writer’s voice 9 Legal briefing 13 The Hong Kong shophouse Ho-Yin Lee and Lynne D Distefano 16 Supporting Columns 17 Chinese renaissance architecture in China and Hong Kong Ho-Yin Lee and Lynne D Distefano 22 Lessons from medieval settlements Robert Huxford 26 Richard Norman Shaw’s hidden legacy Paul Latham 29 Decision support for energy improvements Aitziber Egusquiza, Carsten Hermann and Dennis Rodwell 33 Architecturally speaking 35 Notes from the chair 37 Director’s cut 39 Vox pop 40 New members 41 New member profile 42 Book reviews 45 Products and services 48 Advertisers index Lessons from medieval settlements Everyone agrees that we need more homes. Or, rather, we need places for people to live in: places that have a mix of uses, that are well planned, and that relate well to existing development. What we get, generally, are fields incoherently developed for car-dependent, suburb-like housing schemes. Reflecting on the discussion at the spring conference of the Medieval Settlement Research Group, Robert Huxford (page 22) argues that good planning depends on understanding how those fields developed, and how they relate to historic settlements and highways. Our cover shows a mid-15th-century house in Harwell, Oxfordshire. The timbers from such buildings were often reused in later buildings, complicating the job of dating. (Photo: Robert Huxford) Looking east Three articles in this issue highlight some distinctive buildings in China and Singapore. Ho-Yin Lee and Lynne D Distefano (page 13) trace the development of the Hong Kong shophouse, and Brian Morton (page 16) describes how similar buildings are being restored in Singapore. Lee and Distefano (page 17) also introduce the Chinese renaissance style of architecture that was introduced to China and Hong Kong in the 1920s. Institute ofHistoricBuildingConservation No145 July2016 Lessons frommedieval settlements Shophouses inHongKong andSingapore Chinese renaissance architecture RichardNormanShaw’s hidden legacy
2 C O N T E X T 1 4 5 : J U LY 2 0 1 6 Editor Rob Cowan Editorial Coordinator Fiona Newton, 01507 602567 editorial@ihbc.org.uk Editorial Board Nigel Crowe Peter de Figueiredo (book reviews) Rebecca Madgin Fiona Newton (chair) Elizabeth Smith Michael Taylor Cartoons by Rob Cowan Context is distributed to all members of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation. © Institute of Historic Building Conservation 2016 ISSN 0958-2746 Publisher Cathedral Communications Limited, High Street, Tisbury,Wiltshire, England SP3 6HA 01747 871717 context@cathcomm.co.uk www.buildingconservation.com Non-member subscriptions to Context Context is available to corporate bodies at an annual subscription rate, including postage, of: United Kingdom £60.00 Elsewhere £90.00 Context on-line archive Past editions of Context can be viewed on the IHBC website six months after publication. The archive provides a searchable database and reference for key articles. See www.ihbc.org.uk/page55/context_archive. The views expressed in Context are not necessarily held by the IHBC or the publisher. Neither the publisher nor the IHBC shall be under any liability whatsoever in respect of contributed articles. We gratefully acknowledge the support of firms whose advertisements appear throughout this publication.While every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this issue of Context is current and correct, neither the IHBC nor the publisher can be held responsible for any errors or omissions which may occur. Briefing Copy deadlines Context is published five times a year, in March, May, July, September and November. The next four copy deadlines are: November, issue 147 16 August March, issue 148 13 January May, issue 149 10 March July, issue 150 12 May After Palmyra Historic England is considering the consultation responses to its draft guidance on the reconstruction of heritage assets, issued at a time of renewed interest in reconstruction as a result of the destruction of significant archaeological and historic sites in Iraq and Syria. The recent replication of the Palmyra Arch in Trafalgar Square has also heightened public interest. The UK government has established the £30 million Cultural Protection Fund (2015–2020) to help address recovery from acts of cultural destruction overseas. Historic England warns that the reconstruction of heritage assets can prove contentious and it is important to all interested parties, particularly local communities, that such work is very carefully considered, planned and delivered. If this is not done there is risk, it says, that the assets will be recreated in a form in which they never existed and which undermines our ability to understand and appreciate our past. Historic England accepts that ‘there may be convincing reasons to undertake reconstruction in certain circumstances’.Where heritage assets which are of cultural significance have been deliberately destroyed, this represents an attack on the cultural values of the communities for which they have significance. ‘Reconstruction can be a powerful symbol of renewal in populations which have been ravaged by conflict.’ It gives as examples the destruction in the 1990s of the historic bridge at Mostar during the conflict in what is now Bosnia Herzegovina, which was ‘a huge blow to the resident communities and its reconstruction was very significant’, and the postsecond-world-war rebuilding of the historic city of Warsaw. Such reconstructions need to be based on clear and sufficient evidence if they are to be meaningful, and they should avoid the recreation of something that never existed in that form in the first place, Historic England argues. There should be a sufficiently good record of the asset prior to damage or destruction to enable accurate reconstruction rather than speculative recreation. The relative significance of the elements proposed for reconstruction should be fully understood and, if reconstruction will cause harm to surviving fabric and/or archaeological remains, the significance of the whole and of the elements that would be restored should decisively outweigh the significance of those that would be lost, in Historic England’s view. It should be possible to distinguish the reconstructed elements from any The Master’s House, Ledbury, has won the restoration category in the CivicVoice Design Awards. A Grade II* listed, timber-framed medieval building, the Master’s House had been on the Buildings at Risk Register. A grant of £1.25 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund made possible its conversion to community facilities, including a library and a one-stop-shop for public services.The architect was Butler Hegarty Architects.
C O N T E X T 1 4 5 : J U LY 2 0 1 6 3 trace this hierarchy of space is especially true for older and vernacular buildings where surviving floor finishes and materials may well be one of only a few indicators of its evolution through time. SPAB wants to hear from people who know of any special floors that people should be aware of, or who have any concerns about work that has taken (or physical fabric and/or archaeological remains that have survived from before the damage occurred or, if destruction is total, to make clear that the asset is a reconstruction. Such a distinction should usually be made discreetly and subtly, rather than overtly, Historic England says. History at our feet History at Your Feet is a campaign by SPAB (Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings) to encourage people to be more aware of the importance of old floors. SPAB’s caseworkers regularly report that they are involved too late in discussions about works involving old floors. By the time they are asked to comment on plans or proposals, pivotal decisions have already been made or are being actively pursued. A large number of schemes are being developed without initial consideration of the beauty and interest of the materials, literally, underfoot. In churches and cathedrals, for example, original floors – notably tiles and ledgerstones – have been re-laid and removed to allow the introduction of heating services or to create a level floor that better meets health and safety requirements. In other cases, the aim is to create a more flexible space, suitable for a variety of uses. In private houses, SPAB caseworkers have been concerned to see similar proposals (and instances) involving original timbers, flagstones and simple stone and brick paviours. In the case of the latter, these more ordinary floor types are also at acute risk in ecclesiastical settings, simply because people do not recognise their age or interest. Their modest nature conspires to make them expendable. Exterior features such as ancient cobbles and flagstone pathways are facing similar challenges. Ancient fabric is being obliterated with worrying frequency. Brutal work is being carried out under the guise of improvement with little or no regard for the aesthetic or historic significance and interest of a floor and its importance to the integrity of a building or place. Irreversible damage is being caused by lack of understanding. SPAB explains that floors can play a vital role in revealing the unfolding history of a building. If a dwelling retains its original floors, centuries of use – the story of its inhabitants – can be read, giving a sense of how people lived and how they interacted within that space. The importance of being able to The flagstone floor of the kitchen at Canons Ashby House near Daventry, Northamptonshire (Photo: National Trust Images/Andreas von Einsiedel) A tiled floor of theVictoria and Albert Museum created by female convicts atWoking Prison (Photo:Victoria and Albert Museum, London) Medieval decorated tiles at Strata Florida Abbey, near Aberystwyth,Wales (Photo: Kate Griffin) is taking) place at a building they know? Send your suggestions, comments, concerns and pictures to press@spab. org.uk, or tweet @SPAB1877 with a photo of a floor, explaining where it is and including #lookdown. SPAB has produced a free information download based on one of its technical pamphlets.
4 C O N T E X T 1 4 5 : J U LY 2 0 1 6 Fifteen large, steel-framed windows at the art-deco Freemasons’ Hall in London (the headquarters of the United Grand Lodge of England) have been renovated. Built between 1927 and 1932, the building is Grade II* listed. Mark Kennedy, head of maintenance and building projects at the Freemasons’ Hall, commented cryptically:‘The windows were in a terrible state but now, if you go into the courtyard and look up, they stand out without standing out, just as was intended when the building was built.’The contractor was SteelWindow Service and Supplies Ltd (see page 21). On the home front Local historians and amateur archaeologists are being asked to harness their local knowledge to help to record some of the lesser-known sites and structures of the first world war using a new free app and site recording guide. The tools have been created as part of the Home Front Legacy project, an initiative funded by Historic England and supported by the Council for British Archaeology. The project is looking for, among other things, structures created or re-purposed to cope with wartime necessity, such as pre-fabricated factories, temporary housing, defences or military facilities, which were quickly forgotten and fell into disrepair once the conflict came to an end, and sites closely associated with events such as air crashes, bombings, naval raids and strikes that receive no formal heritage protection. Listed no longer The Department of Culture, Media and Sport has decided to de-list a sculpture by Barbara Hepworth on the advice of Historic England. Epidauros II, a rounded, pierced bronze sculpture overlooking the sea in Hepworth’s hometown of St Ives, was listed in 1998. A recent enquiry about the legal status of the sculpture prompted a review of its listing status. Although the Epidauros sculpture’s position was carefully considered when it was installed by Hepworth herself in 1973, it was placed there on loan. The DCMS has explained that as such it must be considered a chattel, and not a building in law, and it is therefore ineligible for listing. While no documentation survives from when it was listed, beyond the National Heritage List entry, the DCMS thinks that it is most likely that the sculpture was listed in the mistaken assumption that it was a permanent fixture. De-listing will enable the Hepworth estate to offer the sculpture to the nation through the acceptance-inlieu system. If accepted, the intention is that Epidauros II will remain in perpetuity on its historic site. An aerial view of a wartime factory at Burton on Trent (Photo: Historic England) Dilapidated barns in Upper Swaledale will be receiving special attention over the next 18 months.TheYorkshire Dales National Park Authority’s Muker Barn Restoration Project will see local builders using traditional materials, techniques and craft skills to conserve the barns. As well as repairing the buildings, the project aims to support training events and opportunities focused on built heritage skills, working alongside skilled local craftspeople and training organisations.
C O N T E X T 1 4 5 : J U LY 2 0 1 6 5 Letter Cause and effect From John Fidler, Marina Del Rey, California Matthew Champion (‘Hidden impacts of HGV vibrations’, Context 144, May 2016) makes a good point when he states that new research is required into the effects of traffic vibration on historic buildings following the increases in axle weights and vehicle movements since the 1988/89 TRRL reports I–III. While Champion states that the previous work was officially inconclusive, he does not state the reasons put forward in the documents for this state of affairs. The fact is that neither the researchers, nor the English Heritage engineers involved in the studies, could distinguish sufficiently between traffic-induced structural deterioration and previously occurring damage caused by poor construction, settlement, inadequate maintenance and natural weathering. This research dilemma is not limited to engineering studies of historic buildings.Work by the Building Research Establishment (now BRE) in the 1990s on pollution impacts on cathedrals found the same problem: how to distinguish one complicated phenomenon from others that contribute to or exacerbate common symptoms. The usual scientific response is to create a new mock-up of the phenomenon under study that eliminates some of the other factors. But for historic building impacts, the whole point is to attempt study of historic construction, that is, less-thanperfect materials and structure, warts and all. The skill of the researchers is to find a modern proxy for historic fabric that will replicate the damage functions accurately enough to draw conclusions. The German and Swiss standards for the maximum threshold value of peak particle velocity near vibration-sensitive historic buildings is 2mm per second. This threshold has been copied around the world, including here in California by the state’s department of transport. John Fidler ‘IF GOVERNMENT and its regulatory agencies are serious about reducing antibiotics on farms, they should take early action to repair local authority planning processes, which have become progressively more clunky in recent years… ‘Keeping livestock in new buildings dramatically reduces the need for veterinary interventions, yet pig farmers in particular are finding it increasingly difficult to get planning permission to replace worn-out buildings.’ The trade body the National Pig Association complaining that pig farmers are finding it increasingly difficult to get planning permission to replace ‘worn-out’ buildings.This, it says, is leading to an overuse of antibiotics. ‘THE ROOF of the building was leaning over the street, the corner of the road was cordoned off and they weren’t letting anyone near it. I spoke to a police officer outside and she told me next door had been evacuated. As she understands it, all of the internal walls have been removed. ‘These building are nearly 100 years old and even though some partitions appear to be nonloadbearing, some of the partitions become part of the whole building.’ Local architect Ted Aston quoted in the Daily Telegraph after aVictorian house that was being renovated in Lewisham, south-east London, collapsed during building work. ‘A TEAM of five young architects was appointed by chief architect Derek Walker in 1970 to create central Milton Keynes on a bean field. They were into Stonehenge, the pyramids, ley lines. Chris Woodward hired a campervan and went to see Hendrix and Dylan; Ken Baker wore tight trousers tucked into his boots and strutted around London’s UFO club, where the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band played. ‘It was an era of blackouts, strikes and oil price shocks, and these young mystics created a city centre with 23,000 parking spaces. “We were designing Milton Keynes sometimes in the dark and sometimes when we weren’t supposed to work because it was a three-day week,” remembered Baker. “Someone would have said in 1972, what do you need all those parking spaces for? We thought we were making historic moves of the pen.We weren’t trying to satisfy the demands of that day.”’ Patrick Barkham writing in The Guardian ‘IN LONDON’S last great rebuilding, in the mid-20th century, many mistakes were made — urbanism delegated mainly to traffic planners, terraces needlessly demolished, poor-quality social housing, grim commercial canyons. ‘But there was also an idea that the city was being rebuilt for the benefit of its inhabitants as visionary public projects such as the Southbank Centre, the Festival Hall, National Theatre and the Barbican emerged. Social housing, from Ernö Goldfinger’s Trellick Tower in the west to his Balfron Tower in the east, with a landscape of fine-quality council housing in the middle, facilitated a genuinely socially integrated city. The 1964 GPO Tower shot from the West End like a rocket, a revolving restaurant at its top — a self-conscious symbol of the Labour government’s embrace of the “white heat of technology”. ‘By the mid-1970s, south London’s skyline was dominated by the 34 storeys of Guy’s Hospital Tower, the tallest hospital building in the world — a resolutely public structure. There were commercial blocks too — including the once notorious Centre Point — but most buildings sticking up above the city’s skyline were council housing towers, public assets giving the poorest the finest views over London. ‘Now, hospital buildings are giving way to investment pads at Barts Square (part of the site of the city’s earliest hospital, founded 1123) or the former Middlesex Hospital now Fitzroy Place. Public to private.’ Edwin Heathcote writing in the Financial Times
6 C O N T E X T 1 4 5 : J U LY 2 0 1 6 Periodically Since the passing of the Theatres Trust Act 1976, the Theatres Trust has played a crucial role as a statutory consultee on planning applications for development involving land on which there is a theatre or where planning proposals would have an impact on theatre use. This may not always have involved heritage assets, but the trust’s unwavering aim has been to ensure access to high-quality buildings and to champion the future of live theatre through protecting theatre buildings. The trust is marking its 40th anniversary by giving a new look to TM, the trust’s magazine. The spring 2016 issue explains to readers not only the trust’s most notable achievements, but also its new strategy and how it will play its part in protecting live theatre over the next 40 years. Chair Tim Eyles provides an excellent resume of what has happened since the trust was required to be formally consulted on planning proposals. He notes that as the number of statutory consultations has grown decade by decade, so have the variety of ways in which many planning outcomes have been successfully influenced. The trust’s planning advisor Ross Anthony notes that over 800 theatres were lost across the UK between 1914 and 1980. He provides a valuable guide to how the trust approaches theatre protection under the planning system, stemming from the 1976 Act but also involving changes brought about by the 1977 GPDO; revisions to the Use Classes Order 1987; and the trust’s involvement in ensuring that local development plans have appropriate policies for theatres under the provisions of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. Claire Appleby, the architectural advisor, provides an update on the trust’s specialist at-risk register, highlighting 31 vulnerable theatre buildings kept constantly under review. She explains particular initiatives in hand to bring some of theatres back to life, including viability studies (for the Burnley Empire); the Coastal Revival Fund (Brighton Hippodrome); Heritage Lottery Fund start-up funding (Derby Hippodrome); business case support (Dudley Hippodrome); and theatre planning and technical advice (Spilsby Theatre). Readers may recall an earlier column in which I highlighted the trust’s identification of a great swathe of theatres at risk across the North in what has since been dubbed the Northern Powerhouse. Cultural investment in the repair and refurbishment of these theatres could be part of that renaissance. The latest issue of the excellent Association of Preservation Technology Bulletin (Vol XLVII, No 1, 2016) is a special issue on climate change and preservation technology. Two papers will be of particular interest to UK readers. A well-illustrated paper by Peter Curtis looks at the results of changing weather patterns in Scotland and the increased effect of water flow on building fabric where traditional buildings are showing greater signs of damp and physical damage (notwithstanding Scotland having always to contend with demanding weather conditions in the past). The author discusses changes in weather patterns, the detailing of traditional buildings, traditional materials and water vapour movement, and adaptation through better rainwater disposal in the light of even greater pressures on building fabric in the future and the need for increased resilience. A paper by Peter and Caroline Brimblecombe looks at preventive conservation in non-mechanically ventilated historic interiors. The authors suggest approaches aimed at reducing the damage from climate change, particularly where such buildings are located in polluted urban environments, and contain valuable furnishings and historic collections. Taking as its starting point the IPCC’s 2014 Climate Change Synthesis Report, the paper examines the effects on changing indoor climates and changes in indoor damage. The authors note that it might be easy to imagine that interiors are largely insulated against climate change because they are designed with the aim of protection from the ravages of the weather, but often there is little active climate control. The paper goes on to look at the effects of temperature; relative humidity cycles; temperature effects on mould and insects; and changes in air composition and temperature caused by visitors. The authors conclude with some valuable pointers about managing long-term change, particularly around
C O N T E X T 1 4 5 : J U LY 2 0 1 6 7 inspection and maintenance, stressing the importance of risk assessment and prioritising mitigation strategies. Concerns about the effects of climate change on sea levels will have a particular resonance in the UK. Two articles look at this from an American perspective, but some lessons might also be drawn from them here. In the first, in an excellent article entitled ‘Planning before Disaster Strikes’ Ann D Horowitz discusses the debilitating effects of sea-level rise in terms of flooding, storm surge and coastal erosion. She rightly emphasises that the future of heritage assets on tidal shorelines is uncertain without public sector action to implement protection. Much work is being done in America on assessing coastal vulnerability. The author sets out the benefits and disadvantages of ‘hard’ adaptations, such as sea walls and breakwaters, ‘soft’ adaptations, such as berms, dykes and wetland reclamation, and infrastructure, elevation and planning and construction policies. She looks at retro-fitting for dry flood-proofing, such as sandbag barriers or floodgates, and wet flood-proofing, such as moving electrical equipment and appliances to upper floors and sump pumping in basements. Horowitz acknowledges that some of these adaptation solutions are imperfect and temporary, but they may extend the timescale over which present and future generations can experience our commonly inherited past. Fortunately, we are not yet advocating managed retreat to the uplands, but serious consideration will be needed about what we want to save and how we manage it and pay for it. The practical aspects of coastal vulnerability are addressed in the second article regarding sea-level rise. Written by Benjamin Curran, Michael Routhier and Gopal Mulukutla, it explains in detail how a vulnerability assessment was undertaken in New Hampshire at the Strawberry Banke Museum. This an open-air museum contains 11 contemporary and 31 historic structures, the earliest dating from the late 17th century. Light detection and ranging (LIDAR) was used to provide a spatial context, and sensors were used to determine the transitional boundaries between freshwater and saltwater in relation to mean sea-level increases.Water level and environmental monitoring then formed the basis of a discussion about potential conservation issues. These may be equally applicable in parts of the UK. Two other papers in this issue show the range of climate change issues that arise outside the temperate zone familiar to us. One addresses the potential loss of fragile aboriginal cultural landscapes in the Yukon and Northwest Territories of Canada as a consequence of thawing of continuous and discontinuous permafrost. The other looks at the lack of reliable sources of information on the energy retro-fitting of older houses in hot and humid climates, using a historic district of San Antonio, Texas, as an exemplar. The latest issue of Construction History, the international journal of the Construction History Society (Vol 31, No 1, 2016) has a number of wideranging papers. One is the second part of a study by Michael Mark Chrimes of architectural dilettantes working in British India. This part, covering the period 1860 to 1910, looks in particular at how the public works department of the British government managed the design of public buildings in the second half of the 19th century. This was achieved mainly by using civil engineers, who were generally anachronistically referred to as architects, although most held engineering positions in the Indian army, or latterly in offices of public works. For those interested in heritage materials science, there is a paper by Jasenka Gudelj about the historical use of pozzolana as a component of hydraulic mortar in the baroque era, particularly in the rebuilding of Dubrovnik cathedral after the great earthquake of 1667 destroyed most of its renaissance art and architecture. Archival documentation from the period illustrates an otherwise poorly documented process of changing building technology in responding to seismic resistant construction during that era. Jacques Heyman provides a long, well-illustrated paper on the development of crossing spaces, with particular reference to St Paul’s Cathedral and the significance of this after the Great Fire of London had abolished the medieval way of building. A new orthodoxy saw the disappearance of master masons as the designers and builders of cathedrals, and the emergence of the modern professional architect and engineer. The paper draws particularly on the work of Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke. There seems to endless fascination in heritage circles with railway bridges (some might say, like endless fascination with lime). This column has referred to papers on the subject from past issues of the ICE journal Engineering and Heritage. Here Nicholas A Bill looks at timberbridge construction on British and Irish railways from 1840 to 1870. The author’s exhaustive research shows that timber bridges were neither relatively few in number nor used wood out of economic necessity. Bill demonstrates that timber bridges were built in their thousands across the British Isles. They varied in structural form, technical complexity and the use of differing types of timber species. Bill shows that economy was not the sole reason for using timber. For those with more of an interest in fired-earth materials, a paper by Qinghua Guo of the University of Melbourne interprets the wide range of clay roofing tiles fromYongcheng, imperial capital of the Qin state in China around 400–300BC. The research is based on large quantities of tiles excavated there in 1981–84 and 2005–06. The latest issue of The Historic Environment: policy and practice (Vol 7, No 1, 2016) also concerns itself in part with railways. Christopher D Reeves provides a timely paper regarding a policy for the conservation of heritage railway signal boxes in Great Britain. Modern computerised control systems are making traditional signal boxes obsolete, and most of those owned by Network Rail will close by 2026. Many are listed, and while current good practice is predicated on historic buildings being retained in their original positions wherever possible,
8 C O N T E X T 1 4 5 : J U LY 2 0 1 6 there is pressure to relocate redundant listed examples of signal boxes for operational reasons. This would divorce the buildings from their operational and site context. The paper focuses on key exemplars to compare actual locational factors with theoretical conservation policy and practice. In a paper on the governance of urban heritage, Matthias Ripp and Dennis Rodwell suggest that since the publication of the 1975 Council of Europe Charter, and recognition of the interdependence of heritage with urban and regional planning, the debate about sustainability and climate change has seen various attempts to reposition European urban heritage from a specialist to a mainstream activity, as further recognised by the European Union Toledo Declaration of 2010. The authors argue that for this integration to be successful, sound governance is required. The authors advance arguments concerning moving from sustainability to a concept of urban resilience, and call for better systems thinking (for which they provide a helpful checklist of characteristics). Other papers in the current issue describe the management of the natural and cultural heritage of Jordan, and a study of what the compatibility of heritage in historic areas means in relation to the development and highrise redevelopment of Kuwait City. A short item in the June 2016 issue of Natural Stone Specialist highlights the use of the Planning and Development Act 2010 to prevent the sterilisation of 11 development sites in Lincoln that would preclude stone extraction for the repair of Lincoln Cathedral and the castle. The cathedral currently extracts about 100 tonnes of limestone a year for working in its own masonry workshops, but supplies are close to exhaustion from a quarry that has been in continuous operation since 1876. Under the act, the cathedral will be consulted as sites become available so that stone extraction by negotiation may be possible prior to redevelopment. Finally, former members of the Association of Conservation Officers who attended the annual school held at Keble College, Oxford, in 1996 may recall that one of the site visits was to the workshops of the contractors Symm at Osney Mead in the city. The company that had been synonymous with fine masonry work for 200 years eventually became APS Masonry (Axtell Perry Symm), but with the recent difficult peaks and troughs of construction, the stone masonry side of the business faced closure. Natural Stone Specialist reports that fortunately the owners of Cotswold Natural Stone have recently taken over a company described as ‘just too good to be allowed to close’. Bob Kindred MBE From The Visitor’s Hand-Book for Holyhead by Thomas Jackson, 1853 Mr Walpole, whose splendid work appeared in 1784, makes the following remark on Holyhead: ‘The village consists of a straggling confused heap of thatched houses built on rocks’. The Rev R Warner, who wrote his interesting and learned work on North Wales in 1798, merely observes: ‘The parish of Holyhead reckons a population of about 2,000’. Mr Bingley, in his instructive volume, gives us some half-dozen lines on the place; but Mr Aiken, and several others, have not so much as named it. From what they had heard and read, they concluded that the insignificant village possessed but few events at all worthy of being recorded, and those few not of the most interesting nature. They, therefore, refused ‘To strike their harps amid the cheerless gloom’. Such was Holyhead a few years ago. At that time there was no harbour for her vessels, but what the rude hand of Nature had formed—no lighthouse streaming in the midnight gloom—no telegraph to announce to distant parties what vessels heaved in sight—no railway train gliding swiftly and smoothly along the iron-road—no joyous excursionists pouring in by thousands, paying their respects to the natives, beneath the shining of a Summer’s sun—no coachman with his sounding horn—no spirit for commercial enterprise—no Bible Society—no Missionary Society—no schools to ‘teach the young idea how to shoot’—no Savings Bank—no Libraries— no Mechanic’s Institute. It could not boast, like other towns, of advance in trade, or commercial prosperity. It had rather to hang its harp upon the willows, and wonder why all the mighty advantages that Nature had lavished on its transcendently lovely Bay had been so long comparatively overlooked. The present century rose on Holyhead like a sun in smiles. Her growth to importance has taken place within the last half century; the time of her visitation had dawned, her set time was come; the tide of her future prosperity sprung auspiciously; the sympathies of England were turned towards her—the wealth of England was expended on her—and the experience, science, industry, and enterprise of England were put forth on her behalf. The erection of South Stack Lighthouse in 1808, the commencement of the Pier, with its Harbour, Graving Dock, and Lighthouse in 1810, the Government establishment, and the completion of the great Parliamentary road, gave a commercial impulse to the place, and materially contributed to attract and support a thriving population. SPINE:5.5MM TRIM:174X248 YHEN Volume 7 Number 1 2016 The Historic Environment POLICY&PRACTICE The Historic Environment POLICY & PRACTICE ISSN 1756-7505 Volume 7 Number 1 2016 ment 29-03-2016 18:54:24
C O N T E X T 1 4 5 : J U LY 2 0 1 6 9 Sir Simon Jenkins writes in the introduction toEngland’s Thousand Best Churches: ‘I have lost count of the number of church guides which assert, “This building is not a museum, it is a place of worship”. I disagree. A church is a museum, and should be proud of the fact. No apostolic faith can renounce its past. Nor should any parish church forget that it owes its splendour to the love, labour and taxes not just of today’s Anglicans but of its whole community through history.’ However, while it is true that a church is indeed a museum, it is not only, or even primarily, a museum; it is to be hoped that Sir Simon is not disagreeing with the proposition that a church is a place of worship. Equally, nor is a church only a place of worship. Thus Sir Roy Strong concludes his A Little History of the English Country Church with the plea: ‘Many battles over what is to happen to country churches stem from this fixed attitude that they should never be an arena for other activities… I believe that many problems could be solved today by giving the church building back to the local community, albeit with safeguards for worship.’ But he goes on to point out: ‘If you walked into any of them over the centuries, you would have found them altered: either wholly or partially rebuilt, the interiors rearranged, some things kept, others discarded. If churches need to be given back to the communities that surround them, then the building cannot be regarded as untouchable and unalterable. Adaptation will be more important than preservation.’ Precisely the same is true of many urban and suburban churches, even though they will often have less of a history of past multi-use. This is not the first step to redundancy, nor is it defeatism; it is simply the next chapter in the evolving story of the Church’s relationship with the communities it is called to serve. This has recently been emphasised by the Church Buildings Review Group, which supports finding innovative uses for church buildings. However, in a recent series of articles in theChurchTimes on the state of the Church of England, one of the only two mentions of church buildings suggested that ‘the swallowing of a “reality pill” by theVictorian Society, English Heritage and even the government may strengthen the hope LEGAL BRIEFING New uses for churches and church halls A parish that welcomes the local community into the church every day of the week is widening its ministry and offering a valuable resource, writes Charles Mynors. The giftshop in the undercroft at Durham Cathedral (Photo: Jonathan Taylor)
10 C O N T E X T 1 4 5 : J U LY 2 0 1 6 of our buildings’ genuinely serving future society in any meaningful way, other than as museums.’ This too recognises the need for churches (that is, church buildings) to change if they are to survive at all. In short, the parish that keeps its church closed from one Sunday to the next is failing to offer to the local community a resource – a large building, possibly with an associated hall and other facilities – that may be of use for a variety of purposes. It is also, incidentally, missing out on a potential revenue stream that may assist in meeting the cost of maintenance. By contrast, a parish that welcomes the local community into the church every day of the week is widening its ministry – and possibly encouraging those who come for other purposes at least to consider also coming for worship on Sundays. Worship and related uses The use for which a church is most suited is, of course, worship. However, that need not be only the worship of a particular Church of England congregation. Many churches are used by neighbouring schools, either on an occasional basis or regularly, for their carol services and on other special occasions, or even for regular assemblies where the school does not have a suitable hall. As for use by other worshipping groups, it will often be appropriate to allow the building to be used by other Christian congregations – either those of established denominations or independent church groups – again, perhaps on an occasional or experimental basis or, as often, on a regular basis.Where such an activity happens on a single occasion, there will be no need for anything other than an informal (possibly oral) agreement. Where it takes place more often, it will be helpful to both parties if there is at least a written note of what has been agreed, which will provide the ground rules that may help to minimise any future misunderstanding or ill feeling. Such an agreement is likely to be technically a licence. It will be important for the parish to consider carefully all the likely implications of such an activity – such as the provision of special arrangements for children, the storage of items owned and used by the visiting group, and the use of ancillary facilities such as catering – not so as to prevent them occurring, but so that they can be properly dealt with. In addition, thought should be given as to whether the use of the church and associated buildings by a visiting group will hinder or prevent use of them for the parish’s own activities, and whether any such conflicts can be resolved. And external notices and signage may need to be sensitively co-ordinated. Such issues can almost always be readily dealt with if thought about in advance. Other uses As well as specifically Church-related activities, many churches and halls are used for activities that are either more loosely related to Christian mission and ministry, or which are entirely secular. Both the church itself and, if there is one, any associated hall will contain large spaces that are in principle suitable for a wide variety of purposes, and may be the only such spaces in the area. Making them available throughout the week may represent a very valuable service to the community. Obvious activities in the church are lectures, concerts and plays, as these may require relatively little adjustment of furniture; although note that some of these will require space (and time) for rehearsals as well as performances. Such activities will also be greatly assisted if there is an area in the church cleared of fixed seating.This may have been achieved for the purposes of facilitating new forms of worship, but it will also greatly assist the use of the church for dramatic, choral or orchestral performances. Indeed, the possibility of such uses may be a factor in allowing the creation of such an area in the first place. Film shows may also be appropriate if there is a suitable screen. If the seating in the body of the church can be moved, that opens up a further range of possibilities, including exhibitions, a mother-and-toddler drop-in centre, lunch clubs for the elderly or the homeless, keep-fit classes, meetings, youth clubs, and many more.There may also be rare or one-off activities such as blood-donor sessions, public meetings and inquiries, and use as polling stations. Indeed, the possibility of accommodating such events may be one factor in determining whether fixed seating should be removed, to be replaced by chairs or All Souls Bolton, now a community venue, see www.visitchurches.org.uk/ AllSouls (Photo: Andy Marshall courtesy of the Churches Conservation Trust and Future for Religious Heritage)
C O N T E X T 1 4 5 : J U LY 2 0 1 6 11 moveable benches. And, of course, all or any of these events may take place in the church hall, if there is one; and it will often be appropriate to use the hall for a rather wider range of activities (such as parties, food banks and night shelters for the homeless) than would be appropriate in the church itself. Other uses that have been authorised on a more permanent basis include a vegetarian restaurant in the crypt of a City church in London, and the subsequent variation of the permitted use to allow alcohol to be sold, and modernisation of the layout and fittings; various educational and community purposes, under the auspices of a local committee, in ancillary rooms; and an IT training centre. In each case the consistory court has been astute to ensure that the new use does not interfere with the primary use of the building for worship and related purposes. What all this means in practice, and how any resulting restrictions are to be enforced, will probably be determined in principle by the parochial church council in the first instance, and then sanctioned by the grant of a faculty from the chancellor.That may in the long run assist the parish, as it will be able to point to the faculty and thus minimise ill feelings arising in negotiations with regular users of the building. Practical implications Proposals to introduce any activity for the first time need to be thought through carefully.The starting point will be to determine how much space will be required – not just for the main event, but also for the associated activities, such as a reception area (where the activity involves the public), display space, storage (either while the activity is taking place or between sessions), or break-out space (for seminars and conferences). Other issues to be considered will be whether the activity will lead to a demand for signs and banners outside or inside the church, or extra parking or vehicle drop-offs; and whether it will require additional provision to meet the needs of disabled people. In practice, things change. A successful activity will attract increasing numbers of people, leading to heightened pressure on the space, possible increased damage to property, and greater need for supervision by the parish. By contrast, a failing activity may lead to requests to lower the booking fee, until it does not even cover the costs. More prosaically, it is important to ensure that the activity does not create any fire hazard, that there are sufficient fire exits, and that other regulations are complied with – such as those relating to health and safety, food hygiene, alcohol, noise, waste and litter. Some local authorities offer helpful guidance on such matters. If the activity is to take place within the church itself, any objects of special value (including monuments) must be protected. Damage to the floor will need to be avoided – for example, by the use of protective matting, or the prohibition of dancing on wooden floors, or of red wine on stone ones. And food hygiene requirements may require sinks for any catering activities to be separate from those used for flower arranging and floor cleaning. Allowing such activities may lead to some extra income for a parish; and indeed any user should in principle be asked to pay the full market rent.There will often be a wish to offer the premises at a below-market fee, but it should be recognised that the implied subsidy represents a gift to the organisation concerned, and it is important that the parish is willing for that to happen. The generation of income will often not be the principal motivation for allowing a church or hall to be used in this way, but the parish should certainly ensure that the amount of rent at least covers the cost of the heat, light and other services that are used. The need for permission New uses of a church or hall – whether for worship by visiting organisations or for secular uses – may well involve the moving of furniture, but that is likely to be temporary, with the furniture being put back at the end of the use. That will therefore not require a faculty, or any other authorisation. Such uses will also generally not, in themselves, require physical works to be carried out to enable them to take place – although the possibility of accommodating them may be an additional argument to justify proposals such as the removal of fixed pews or the provision of improved lighting or additional car parking. And that may well be a factor influencing the chancellor’s overall assessment of the need for a particular proposed change. Quite apart from the resulting physical changes, the new use itself will not normally need a faculty, particularly if it is within a type that frequently occurs, or if it is an appropriate use occurring on a one-off basis. But it may be wise for a parish to seek a general faculty for the use of the church or the church hall (or specific parts of them) for a variety of secular uses, so that all the points above can be considered on a general basis. That may also be helpful to avoid undue pressure to allow an unsuitable activity, or to justify slight restrictions to prevent a suitable activity getting out of control. A faculty may, for example, impose limits on the hours of use, and might require that alcohol may not be brought on to the premises (either by anyone other than the organisers of the event in question, or at all), or that a member of the parochial church council be present throughout. Or it might stipulate that any new use of the church – or any use of the church hall in a new category – must be approved by the vicar. Note that a faculty will be required where a formal licence or lease is to be entered into. That will deal with many of the practical points mentioned above. And where a church is to be divided into two parts on a reasonably permanent basis, or a church hall is to be used for a non-church use, that may require both a faculty and planning permission. This is a shortened extract from Charles Mynors’ new book, Changing Churches: a practical guide to the faculty system, published by Bloomsbury at £40. Charles Mynors for many years wrote a legal update column for Context, and was until recently a barrister at Francis Taylor Building in the Temple. He is now in charge of the Law Commission’s project to consolidate and codify planning law inWales. He is working on the fifth edition of his textbook, to be entitled Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets, due to be published later this year by Sweet & Maxwell.
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